He has taken leave from office till June 17. The calculation is simple. USA’s final group stage match at the World Cup is June 14. The last match of the group stage means the last match of the tournament; And anyway, how far will the US advance from the group of India, Pakistan and Ireland? They certainly will not make it to the next round from the top two!
But for Sourav Netrabalkar, the calculation has now become complicated. May have to apply for extension of leave. Because, after Canada, the United States has now climbed to the top of the ‘A’ group after defeating Pakistan . Matches against India and Ireland ahead. If you win one, the Super Eight ticket is almost guaranteed. And if Netrabalkar does not apply before that is confirmed, the office can give him leave. The opportunity to proudly post on social media about one of our employees does not come often.
You can look at Oracle’s X (formerly Twitter) handle to know how proud it is. Netrabalkar worked in the world famous American multinational computer technology company. Sharing the news of the USA Cricket team’s Super Over win over Pakistan in Dallas last night, Oracle wrote in the caption, ‘Congratulations to USA Cricket on the historic win. We are proud of the team and our very own engineer and cricket star Sourav.
Not only Oracle, Netrabalkar is now the pride of USA Cricket. The left-arm pacer bowled the crucial over for the team after the tied match against Pakistan was converted into a super over. While chasing 18 runs, Nama restricted Pakistan to 13 runs. The 32-year-old Netrabalkar has an identity outside the US. He also played in the U-19 World Cup in 2010 with Indians, Lokesh Rahul, Mayank Agarwal. India’s journey stopped at Pakistan in that tournament in New Zealand. Netrabalkar’s team lost by 2 wickets in the last over to the team of Babar Azam and Ahmed Shehzad. Remembering the memory of the IPL team Lucknow Super Giant, many have posted, after 14 years Netrabalkar’s revenge!
Whether Netrabalkar feels revenge or not, or the memory of losing to Pakistan in India’s jersey after playing for the USA, he knows better. However, the career path of this Mumbai-based cricketer-computer scientist says that this is his coming-of-age moment. In 2009, he broke the stumps of then star cricketer Yuvraj Singh in a game at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore while on an Air India sports scholarship. The bowling that earned him a place in the BCCI Corporate Trophy.
The Indian board then gave a lot of importance to the corporate trophy, Netrabalkar got a chance to play with Yuvraj, Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa. The 18-year-old Netrabalkar also earned a call-up to India’s U-19 World Cup squad after taking joint-highest wickets in that tournament. By that time, he was admitted to graduate in computer engineering in India. But he missed the first semester exam because he wanted to play the World Cup.
That’s the beginning. For the past decade and a half, he has been spending his days in hiding this cricket and computer engineering.
Netrabalkar was India’s highest wicket-taker in U-19 World Cup (9 wickets in 6 matches). After such a success, the way to enter the Indian national team is very close to sight. At least there was hope of getting a call to the IPL team or being a regular part of the domestic team Mumbai. But in Mumbai, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Avishkar Salbi and Dhawal Kulkarni were sitting, so it was difficult to get a place for Netrabalkar.
However, he turned down a job offer from a software testing company in Pune in 2013 to stay in cricket. A few months later, he made his debut for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. However, he could not open the way to enter the Indian national team. A degree in computer engineering didn’t help either. He thought, something needs to be done by making the chemistry of his passion-profession. In 2014, he created an app called Cricdecode from that thought. Cricketers can analyze their game in this mobile app.
This coding skill or engineering knowledge and on the other hand the uncertain future of cricket in India – together made a new decision in 2015. Got the opportunity to get admission in Computer Engineering Postgraduate at Cornell University, USA. Reminiscing in a 2018 interview with Cricinfo, Netrabalkar said, ‘To be honest, I didn’t even bring my cricket shoes when I came to the US. I was completely focused on my studies. (Watching a local cricket match) Next time I go to India, bring my own sports equipment.’
After completing his Masters in May 2016, Netrabalkar had two options. First, back in India to work in engineering and try to start a cricket career again. Second, moving from the US to San Francisco, where Oracle has a job offer. If you continue to play, you will have the opportunity to wear the USA jersey at some point. Netrabalkar chose the second path.
But it was not very easy either. The job, along with continuing to practice sports, required ‘practice. Staying at Cornell University meant studying, rarely practicing. When I came to Oracle, there was a lack of practice. I had to find time after work to motivate myself from within to practice. There were very few games. So I looked for opportunities to play in different tournaments.’
In 2016, Netrabalkar played for the North West Region in the US National Championship. In the meantime, he learned what it takes to play for the United States national team. After knowing that, he increased his efforts in cricket. Weekends are Saturday and Sunday. Netrabalkar aims to play in two cities every week. Srinivas would drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles at night after work on Fridays with a colleague named Salvar. The two would make three-hour, six-hour drives to another teammate’s house. From there he used to play on Saturdays. Then he returned to San Francisco to play another match. Even though his parents agreed with these crickets, he used to regularly travel to Los Angeles for turf wickets.
The turning point was played in Los Angeles in the summer of 2017. Netrabalkar, who played for the Southern California Cricket Association XI, took 2 wickets for 30 runs in 9 overs against the USA XI. US coach Pubudu Desanayake was impressed by that. He was called up to the US national team a few days later. In January 2018, he made his debut for the United States against the Leeward Islands, taking 2 wickets for 45 runs.
The next path is known to many. At the end of his debut year, he was made the captain of the United States team. He left the role in 2021 to focus on bowling. The attention was not in vain, it can be seen in the ranking. In June 2023, he was ranked 18th in the ICC ODI Rankings, the first time any US bowler was in the top 20.
On June 6, 2024, Netrabalkar gave the US another ‘first’. It was the first World Twenty20 win for the United States against a full ICC member team. Where there is a cricketer, there is also a computer engineer. Which now the vacation period is increasing!